Report suggests LG to use own chips in Optimus G2, launch headed for IFA

A report emerging this weekend from the Korea Times, suggests that LG is to develop their first in-house mobile processor for use in the Optimus G2. It's perhaps not all that surprising that LG is considering heading down this path, and taking the fight on another front to fellow Korean OEM, Samsung.

The information comes from an un-named LG official during a telephone conversation with Korea Times, along with an alleged schedule for the launch of the Optimus G2:

LG Electronics is going to mass-produce the Odin processors by using finer 28-nanometer level processing, applying high-k metal gate (HKMG) technology. The processors will be used in LG’s next flagship Optimus smartphone ― the Optimus GII ― which will probably be unveiled in this fall’s IFA trade fair

IFA doesn't take place until September in Berlin, and by that time will be about a full year since the Optimus G was first announced. LG was noticably quiet during the IFA 2012 show, instead opting for their own event in Korea to showcase the device. But, given the timeline, it stands a decent chance of being credible information.

LG's processors meanwhile are allegedly following a similar octa-core design to Samsung's recently announced Exynos 5 Octa. Known as 'Odin,' four A15 cores will kick in should the power be required, such as high intensity gaming, where four A7 cores will better serve for lighter intensity work. Like the Exynos 5 then, LG's efforts will be based on ARM's big.LITTLE processing.

What I don't understand is why you need 4 lower power cores like the Cortex A7. In order to even use 4 cores these days requires a high workload application, and that is when the Cortex A15s are supposed to kick in. This means that in theory, 2 of the 4 Cortex A7 cores will never get activated since there is no need for 4 cores in low power mode.

A more logical approach to this is: 2 Cortex A7 cores + 4 Cortex A15 cores. However, I guess it doesn't sound as sexy as an octo-core in the marketing world which is sad since it inflates costs and causes battery drainage (even when a core is "offline" it still uses a bit of battery, it's not completely off).

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